This invention relates to a meat holder, and more particularly to a meat holder for supporting elongated strips of meat for skewering with skewer sticks.
One food item which is popular is Hawaiian or Polynesian restaurants in an elongated strip of meat, such as a strip flank steak, which is skewered longitudinally by a skewer stick longer than the meat strip, so that the meat covers one portion of the stick, while an uncovered end portion of the stick is held in the hand for cooking over a fire pot or small brazier.
Conventionally, these skewered meat strips are prepared by hand, one hand holding the meat strip, while the other hand manipulates the stick to skewer the thin meat strips longitudinally.
The process is tedious, slow and somewhat hazardous, since sometimes a hastily thrust skewer stick accidentally penetrates the hand of the operator holding the meat.
Several devices are known for mechanically skewering meat, such as those shown in the following U.S. patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,210,765, Mahlke, Aug. 6, 1940 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,303,566, Majestic, Dec. 1, 1942 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,609,564, Grimm, Sept. 9, 1952 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,815,530, Alexander, Dec. 10, 1957 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,859,685, Alexander, Nov. 11, 1958 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,405,422, Sico et al., Oct. 15, 1968 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,713, Kang et al., May 25, 1971 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,729,774, Chow, May 1, 1973 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,601, Heighberger, Oct. 23, 1973
The Mahlke U.S. Pat. No. 2,210,765, the Majestic U.S. Pat. No. 2,303,566, and the Grimm U.S. Pat. No. 2,609,564 disclose meat skewering devices in which the meat is cut in small pieces and arranged in the respective meat compartments in layers which are transverse to the trajectory of the skewer, in order to make meat products known as "city chicken" or "chicken legs." The meat compartments utilized in these patents have completely open mold cavities with no projections of any kind, much less any type of transverse ribs.
The Sico et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,405,422 also discloses similar types of open meat compartments for receiving layers of meat for making "city chicken."
The Heighberger U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,601 discloses a single cylindrical mold cavity for receiving and compressing chunks of meat about a skewer stick.
Both of the Alexander U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,815,530 and 2,859,685, the Kang et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,713, and the Chow U.S. Pat. No. 3,729,774 disclose skewering devices for impaling elongated strips of meat in undulating waves, so that the skewer sticks are partially exposed to the fire or heat when the skewered strips are cooked.
Although the problem of attempting to protect the uncovered portions of the skewer in an undulating meat strip from the heat and flame was apparently recognized in the Alexander U.S. Pat. No. 2,815,530, nevertheless, this problem was solved in the Alexander patent by merely attempting to cover the major portion of the skewer (column 2, lines 40-42; column 4, lines 4-7).
None of the above cited patents disclose a meat compartment or mold having interior projections for gripping and holding elongated meat strips substantially straight lengthwise of the compartment, while a skewer penetrates the center portion of each meat strip throughout its length, so that the entire longitudinal portion of the skewer coextensive with the meat strip is completely covered and protected from the flame or heat during cooking.